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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Better To Fear The Cold

SEARCH BLOG: CLIMATE


One of the great fears perpetrated on the uninformed by the global warming alarmists is that there is this "doomsday" scenerio where nature goes berserk and we have massive casualties from drowning, drought, famine, and disease.  Soon the world will look like the searing surface of Venus.

The reality is that human being are better suited to heat than cold.  The least technologically advanced humans have lived in the hottest of places with long-term success.  Very few humans have adapted physiologically to cold climates and rely heavily upon managing their personal environments... or perishing.

There is increasing evidence that earth is cooling and it may be for several decades.  Quite simply, many human cultures are not ready for that.  Geologically speaking, there are greater drought areas during cold times than warm times.  There are shorter growing seasons and more likelihood of crop failures.  There is more suffering and disease related to cold weather and more deaths related to individuals being ill-prepared or unable to avoid the effects of severe cold... the poor, the old, and the very young.

Consequently, our government is on an expensive, wasteful, "wild goose chase" to "save the planet"... from the wrong threat.  President Obama has stated his intention to move to more costly and less available "renewable" energy resources and acknowledged that there will be sacrifices to be paid.  The problem is that the sacrifices will go beyond mere financial costs and lead to a situation where more people will die from lack of affordable energy... the very people Obama claims as his constituents.

A simple Google search for "cold weather deaths" gives countless examples.  Here are some:

  2. U.S. Cold-Weather Deaths - New York Times

    Cold weather kills more than 700 Americans a year, according to statistics that were released here this week by the Centers for Disease Control and ...
    query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9801EFDF1F3AF931A25751C1A96E958260 - 36k -Cached - Similar pages - 

  3. Cold weather caused pelican deaths, officials say - San Jose ...

    Jan 16, 2009 ... Cold weather caused pelican deaths, officials say.
    www.mercurynews.com/centralcoast/ci_11474158 - 56k - Cached - Similar pages - 

  4. Cold Weather deaths on the rise ( The death toll due to cold ...

    Health,The death toll due to cold weather in England and Wales is 25000 as p... This is a seasonal death was mainly because the older pensioners w.
    www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news/Cold-Weather-deaths-on-the-rise-15390-1/ - 30k -Cached - Similar pages - 

  5. News results for deaths cold weather

    Texas warms up after 6 weather-related deaths - 2 hours ago
    The cold front that brought freezing temperatures wasn't overloaded with ... Authorities were investigating if weather played a role in the death of the ...
    Houston Chronicle - 201 related articles »
    Mexico: Cold has led to 31 deaths since October - CNN International - 3 related articles »

  6. Hypothermia - Cold Weather Death

    Jan 3, 2006 ... Information about the dangers of cold weather to seniors. Older people are at higher risk of injury and death due to hypothermia.
    seniorhealth.about.com/od/diseaseasyouage/a/hypotherm_dang.htm - 21k -Cached - Similar pages - 

  7. 8th cold-related death; more cold weather today - Chicago Breaking ...

    8th cold-related death; more cold weather today. December 10, 2008 5:56 AM | 2 Comments. An eighth cold-related death has been recorded in Cook County, ...
    www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/12/8th-cold-related-death-more-cold-today.html - 28k -Cached - Similar pages - 
Yes, cold weather adversely affects animals as well. The polar bears are quite safe; it is many other species that are not quite so safe from a cooling climate.

UPDATE

In case you hadn't heard the latest... from CNN:

(CNN) -- A massive winter storm system that left a deadly swath of ice and snow from Texas to Maine pushed into Canada early Thursday, leaving emergency officials to tally the damage.

A tree pulls on utility lines Wednesday in Louisville, Kentucky, in a photo from iReporter Jacek Jasinski.

A tree pulls on utility lines Wednesday in Louisville, Kentucky, in a photo from iReporter Jacek Jasinski.

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The storm caused at least 17 deaths and cut power to more than a million homes across the Midwest, according to state emergency management agencies.

While the massive storm dropped sleet and ice across the Mid-South and Midwest, it changed to a snowmaker by the time it reached the Northeast, the National Weather Service said.

Snowfall amounts topped 10 inches in portions of New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maine. Sixteen inches of snow fell on Sunapee, New Hampshire, while Eminence, Missouri, collected five inches of ice and sleet.

The storm left "absolutely everything in northwest Arkansas ... at a standstill," an Arkansas police officer said. 


And as reported in The Detroit News

Inside the abandoned Roosevelt Warehouse in Detroit, a body lies frozen in a block of ice.
Charlie LeDuff on Detroit

Frozen in indifference: Life goes on around body found in vacant Detroit warehouse

DETROIT -- This city has not always been a gentle place, but a series of events over the past few, frigid days causes one to wonder how cold the collective heart has grown.

That just a day after a 93-year old Bay City man was found frozen in his home because he couldn't pay the electric bills

Okay, President Obama, what's your plan to fight Global Cooling and human freezing?

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CO2 Cap and Trade

There is always an easy solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.
Henry Louis Mencken (1880–1956)
“The Divine Afflatus,” A Mencken Chrestomathy, chapter 25, p. 443 (1949)
... and one could add "not all human problems really are."
It was beautiful and simple, as truly great swindles are.
- O. Henry
... The Government is on course for an embarrassing showdown with the European Union, business groups and environmental charities after refusing to guarantee that billions of pounds of revenue it stands to earn from carbon-permit trading will be spent on combating climate change.
The Independent (UK)

Tracking Interest Rates

Tracking Interest Rates

FEDERAL RESERVE & HOUSING

SEARCH BLOG: FEDERAL RESERVE for full versions... or use the Blog Archive pulldown menu.

February 3, 2006 Go back to 1999-2000 and see what the Fed did. They are following the same pattern for 2005-06. If it ain't broke, the Fed will fix it... and good!
August 29, 2006 The Federal Reserve always acts on old information... and is the only cause of U.S. recessions.
December 5, 2006 Last spring I wrote about what I saw to be a sharp downturn in the economy in the "rustbelt" states, particularly Michigan.
March 28, 2007
The Federal Reserve sees no need to cut interest rates in the light of adverse recent economic data, Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday.
The Fed chairman said ”to date, the incoming data have supported the view that the current stance of policy is likely to foster sustainable economic growth and a gradual ebbing in core inflation”.

July 21, 2007 My guess is that if there is an interest rate change, a cut is more likely than an increase. The key variables to be watching at this point are real estate prices and the inventory of unsold homes.
August 11, 2007 I suspect that within 6 months the Federal Reserve will be forced to lower interest rates before housing becomes a black hole.
September 11, 2007 It only means that the overall process has flaws guaranteeing it will be slow in responding to changes in the economy... and tend to over-react as a result.
September 18, 2007 I think a 4% rate is really what is needed to turn the economy back on the right course. The rate may not get there, but more cuts will be needed with employment rates down and foreclosure rates up.
October 25, 2007 How long will it be before I will be able to write: "The Federal Reserve lowered its lending rate to 4% in response to the collapse of the U.S. housing market and massive numbers of foreclosures that threaten the banking and mortgage sectors."
November 28, 2007 FED VICE CHAIRMAN DONALD KOHN
"Should the elevated turbulence persist, it would increase the possibility of further tightening in financial conditions for households and businesses," he said.

"Uncertainties about the economic outlook are unusually high right now," he said. "These uncertainties require flexible and pragmatic policymaking -- nimble is the adjective I used a few weeks ago."
http://www.reuters.com/

December 11, 2007 Somehow the Fed misses the obvious.
fed_rate_moves_425_small.gif
[Image from: CNNMoney.com]
December 13, 2007 [from The Christian Science Monitor]
"The odds of a recession are now above 50 percent," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "We are right on the edge of a recession in part because of the Fed's reluctance to reduce interest rates more aggressively." [see my comments of September 11]
January 7, 2008 The real problem now is that consumers can't rescue the economy and manufacturing, which is already weakening, will continue to weaken. We've gutted the forces that could avoid a downturn. The question is not whether there will be a recession, but can it be dampened sufficiently so that it is very short.
January 11, 2008 This is death by a thousand cuts.
January 13, 2008 [N.Y. Times]
“The question is not whether we will have a recession, but how deep and prolonged it will be,” said David Rosenberg, the chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch. “Even if the Fed’s moves are going to work, it will not show up until the later part of 2008 or 2009.”
January 17, 2008 A few days ago, Anna Schwartz, nonagenarian economist, implicated the Federal Reserve as the cause of the present lending crisis [from the Telegraph - UK]:
The high priestess of US monetarism - a revered figure at the Fed - says the central bank is itself the chief cause of the credit bubble, and now seems stunned as the consequences of its own actions engulf the financial system. "The new group at the Fed is not equal to the problem that faces it," she says, daring to utter a thought that fellow critics mostly utter sotto voce.
January 22, 2008 The cut has become infected and a limb is in danger. Ben Bernanke is panicking and the Fed has its emergency triage team cutting rates... this time by 3/4%. ...

What should the Federal Reserve do now? Step back... and don't be so anxious to raise rates at the first sign of economic improvement.
Individuals and businesses need stability in their financial cost structures so that they can plan effectively and keep their ships afloat. Wildly fluctuating rates... regardless of what the absolute levels are... create problems. Either too much spending or too much fear. It's just not that difficult to comprehend. Why has it been so difficult for the Fed?

About Me

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Michigan, United States
Air Force (SAC) captain 1968-72. Retired after 35 years of business and logistical planning, including running a small business. Two sons with advanced degrees; one with a business and pre-law degree. Beautiful wife who has put up with me for 4 decades. Education: B.A. (Sociology major; minors in philosopy, English literature, and German) M.S. Operations Management (like a mixture of an MBA with logistical planning)